Zara trumps UK clothing brands as most prominent fashion retailer

According to an annual report on the clothing sector, which analysed key performance indicators for over 300 clothing brands, Zara is revealed as the dominating retailer in the industry.

The report, created by Salience Search Marketing, analysed 11 crucial performance indicators, including year-on-year visibility search volume trends, and brand awareness.

Through analysing monthly searches for each brand and calculating an owned social score, the report unveiled the five most prominent brands in the sector are Zara, M&S, H&M, NEXT and Boohoo.

The findings reveal that with over 91 million social media followers and a sizeable 1,830,000 brand searches per month, Zara  is the market leader when it comes to brand awareness. What's more, a meme account also surfaced for the clothing brand’s notable ‘unusual poses’, which boosted brand awareness.

Marks & Spencer is the second most prominent brand in the sector with 5,000,000 brand searches per month and over 8 million social media followers.

In terms of organic visibility, there has been a 7% increase in overall organic growth within the industry, proving consumers are still keen to shop online, despite reports of e-commerce dwindling.

Sainsbury’s clothing line Tu saw the biggest drop in visibility with a 29% decrease since June 2022. However, NEXT had the biggest growth in organic visibility with an increase of 26% year-on-year.

The report also unpacked trends, which are driving online searches. For example, 'Stussy hoodie' has seen the biggest increase in searches, with a 169% jump. The clothing product has recently surfaced on social media, with over 200,000 views for #stussyhoodie on TikTok in the last month.

Brett Janes, Managing Director at Salience Search Marketing, commented: "This report saw Salience conduct its biggest analysis yet as over 300 clothing brands were assessed. As a whole, it has been a positive year for the industry, with a 7% increase in organic growth and a sizeable volume of searches and visibility.

"Understanding that trends are ever-changing and building a strong online presence across multiple channels becomes crucial in driving sales and capitalizing on the expanding market demand."